A typical printed circuit board (PCB) includes multiple conductive and non-conductive layers which are sandwiched together into a rigid structure which is planar in shape. This rigid plane-shaped structure provides a dense network of electrical pathways which connect a variety of circuit board components together. Such components may include, among other things, integrated circuit (IC) devices (e.g., high-speed area array packages, field programmable gate arrays, serializer/de-serializer interfaces, processors, memories, etc.), discrete components (e.g., diodes, resistors, capacitors, light emitting diodes, etc.), connectors, and so on.
There are other items that interface with PCBs as well. For example, a light pipe is an elongated device having one end adjacent a light emitting diode (LED) and another end at a distal location from the LED which may be several inches away (e.g., at a front panel of a cabinet, at a display on an electronic housing, etc.). Such a light pipe is typically made of clear plastic or a similar material. During operation, the light pipe is configured to carry light from the LED to the distal location.
Another PCB item is an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shield. An EMI shield is a device which is configured to prevent passage of EMI from one location to another. One conventional EMI shield is in the form of a metallic chassis which completely surrounds a circuit board. Another conventional EMI shield is in the form of a metallic module cage which works, in combination with a circuit board, to enclose an individual circuit board component (e.g., a high-speed optical transducer).